The Magic Alchemist
by LadyOfRandom
Summary: "-since everytime I send you to investigate you blow up at least a building or two, we decided to assign you to a partner for this mission" "Pffffffft... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was a good one Bastard! That was a REALLY good joke!"


**A.N.**

 **Well... long time no see? When I wrote this I planned to keep it for myself, but SOMEONE (*coughcough*mybestfriend*coughcough*) forced me to publish it. She's actually breathing down my neck as I write this note. I'm really scared. I'm sorry if this seems OOC, but I find Ed difficult to pinpoint. And maybe my OC is annoying... anyway, the best I can say is 'Enjoy'? Somehow...**

* * *

Edward tapped his foot impatiently on the floor. He was getting annoyed with the incessant noise that was Colonel Mustang's voice, something about almost blowing up their chances of setting up a trade with the southern regions, something he couldn't care less about.

Alphonse was fidgeting next to him, at least having the decency to look guilty, his fingers clink-clanking together and offering some sort of comforting sound to his ears, that were figuratively bleeding.

The noise stopped.

Thank God for that.

.

.

.

Wait.

Too silent for Colonel Bastard's standards.

He cracked a golden eye open, watching as Roy massaged the bridge of his nose with an air of vague tiredness escaping from him. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, lecturing a rebellious, 15 years old, State Alchemist, that most likely wasn't even listening to him waste his breath.

Well, the feeling was mutual.

It's not like he wanted to sit there, doing nothing and getting his ears busted.

"Since you're barely listening to me Fullmetal, we're going to try a different approach. We have another lead on a Philospher's Stone"

Edward perked up, his eyes popping open and watching intensely the Colonel.

Alphonse's hands halted, stopping the familiar white noise, and letting out a small, metallic gasp.

"But-"

Oh, "buts". He hated those.

"-since everytime I send you to investigate you blow up at least a building or two, we decided to assign you to a partner for this mission"

 _Blink, blink._

Silence.

"Pffffffft... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was a good one Bastard! That was a REALLY good joke!"

"Brother, I don't think he's joking..."

Ed froze.

He slowly turned his head back to the Colonel's direction, his smile so stiff it looked like it was slapped on his face.

"I-It's a-a prank...right?"

Roy hid a smirk behind his interlocked hands, careful to keep it out of his voice.

"No, it's not a prank, we're going to assign another State Alchemist as your partner, with the task of keeping you in line and out of trouble"

Al's soulfire eyes simply flickered, indicating a blink, as he tilted his helmet with a light clang and a "Huh?".

Meanwhile Ed...

He paled for a split second, before his cheeks reddened in anger.

And then he exploded.

"WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?! A TODDLER THAT NEEDS TO HAVE HIS HAND HELD BY AN ADULT AND WILL NEVER GROW UP THE SIZE OF A SMALL FISH?! I SWEAR JERK, FOR THIS I'LL-!"

The Flame Alchemist just kept watching on, unimpressed by the miraculous growth in capacity of the elder Elric's lungs, Al in the background trying to frantically apologize on his brother's behalf.

If only that worked in height as well.

What seemed like two hours passed, but in reality they were only twenty seconds of screaming, and at that point, the Colonel finally had enough. He snapped his gloved fingers and a small burst of flames surged forward, setting on fire the edge of Ed's cloak, that noticed it a second too late.

Uh.

More screaming.

Wonder why.

Nice move, Mustang.

Really helpful.

After Al had helped his brother put out the fire, and Ed had complained under his breath about his spare cloak being all the way back in his dorms, Roy called for someone behind the entrance door.

"You can come in"

The door squeaked as an head poked in, looking cautiosly around, before the person stepped inside the room.

It was a girl, that was actually pretty generic looking. Her wavy brown hair fell messily past her shoulders, her brown eyes looking curiosly at the living armor from behind her large, black-framed glasses.

Her clothes were nothing special either. She wore a white hoodie, black pants and black combat boots, as well as a black hooded jacket. A glint of metal on her chest brought attention to a pendant, a simple tri-petaled flower.

Nothing about her appearence or behaviour could connect her to the State Alchemists, but looking closely, Ed could see the familiar silver chain of the watch coming out of her right pocket and attaching itself to a side-zipper.

The Colonel cleared his throat to get their attention back to him.

"Fullmetal, she is going to be your partner for this mission and beyond that if we deem it necessary. Mind introducing yourself?"

The girl nodded and showed the Elric brothers a wobbly smile, shuffling unsurely on her feet.

"I-I'm Julie, the... the Magic Alchemist. It's a pleasure to m-meet you, Fullmetal, and you as well Alphonse Elric"

That made Ed raise a couple of eyebrows. Her title was very contradictory in itself, there was no magic when alchemy was involved in the equation, magic didn't even exist in the first place! Maybe he could ask her the origin of the title, as a sign of trust.

Yeah, that would do.

Wait a second, she didn't mistake him for his brother! She guessed it at first try! He could cry at any moment. He didn't dislike this girl already. How much time had passed? He couldn't keep silent for so long!

"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Why the strange title?"

Julie's eyes lit up a the prospect of using her alchemy, and she chuckled at the boy's straightforwardness.

"Would you like if I showed you?"

With a nod from both the brothers and the Colonel, she pulled on a wide grin, clapping her hands at the same time. She spun them in a small circle, gathering water out of nowhere and condensing it in a vague diamond shape.

Keeping it afloat with a hand, she snapped the fingers of the other. The water froze, solidifying the diamond shape in an ice crystal, that she caught as it was falling.

Ed almost didn't hear Al's awed noises. He was too busy trying to keep his eyeballs from falling off.

Circleless alchemy.

She saw it.

She freaking _knew._

And then there was the fact that she created SOMETHING out of NOTHING, but that he could ask in public.

He pointed weakly at the crystal, before he caught himself and quickly crossed his mismatched arms.

"That was some really good circleless alchemy..."

Julie recognized his tone of voice as 'I know what you've done and we'll talk later', and turned her head to the side, averting her gaze from him, the ice crystal in her hand lightly cracking with a 'chink' from the nervous strength behind her grip.

"I-It took me... a-a-a lo-lot of ti-time to le-learn t-that..."

The air in the room became tense, as Ed narrowed his eyes and Julie continued to avoid them. Al's soulfires bounced uncertainly between the two, trying to gauge out what was wrong, and after a soft 'oh' of realization, he looked nervously at his older brother.

Sensing the thick tension, Mustang coughed again, snapping their attention to him, the poor girl looking almost relieved for the distraction.

"Well, my office is not place for these kind of discussions. If you want to talk you need to do it somewhere else. For now, go back to your dorms. Tomorrow we'll give you three the details on the next mission. Dismissed."

Julie saluted hastily and booked it for the door. Ed, instead, just turned around and waved a lazy hand over his shoulder, Al following behind him.

As the door closed behind Fullmetal and his brother with the usual slam, Roy massaged his temple.

 _'What the hell have I done?'_


End file.
